REV. TEMPLE CUTLER.
Two years ago Plymouth church, Charleston, was in the hands of a man whom it believed to be a good man, and in the enthusiasm of the moment it undertook to support him without aid from the Association. They ran the church nine months, and then were glad to get back under the sheltering wings of their cherishing mother. They did not return a moment too soon. Life was at a very low ebb, and the church required very tender nursing to bring it up. The most I can say of it now is, that it is convalescing. The pulse is regular, the digestion normal, the eye is brighter and more hopeful, there is a degree of buoyancy in the step, the skin is more healthy, and if there shall be no relapse, we may confidently hope for full recovery. But I would not advise a repetition of such experiments. It isn’t a good plan to try how near we can bring ourselves to the gate of death and then get back. Tannerism isn’t good for church work.
The greatest burden of the church now, is a debt of $1,200 which it owes to the A. M. A. We would like to pay this off, and no doubt the money would be of great use in some other department of our great work, but the people are very poor. They are willing to do what they can, but we find it hard to pay the interest on the mortgage. If any of the readers of the Missionary desire to help a worthy cause, let them send their donation to Dr. Strieby, to be set to the credit of Plymouth church in Charleston.
We have been revising our list of membership. In the spring we had a solemn renewal of fellowship, and from that renewal we made up our list. In doing this we were obliged to drop from our record twenty-five names. We number now, present and absent, 180; but, I am sorry to say, some of them who are in the city, and who solemnly covenanted to walk in the fellowship with the church, still absent themselves from all our services. Still they regard themselves as exemplary Christians, and resent the imputation that they are not living consistent lives. It is here, as everywhere, a few faithful ones are the bone and sinew of the church.
I wish I could take you into one of our prayer meetings, such a one as we sometimes have, for they are not all of the same degree of spiritual fervor, but one of our good meetings is exceedingly enjoyable. The songs are so weird and the prayers are so fervent and frequent, and their attitude so devout—well, perhaps your fastidious taste would be shocked, but somehow I am drawn a little nearer Heaven here than anywhere else. I can’t help saying “Amen” down in my heart. And when they sing my body sways with theirs, just as the sailor rolls his gait with the motion of the deck. We sing a good many of the old time tunes, and some that have not yet been translated into written song. Our people sing their good old household hymns to these tunes. They have a happy faculty of adapting the words to the music, no matter what the metre may be. For instance, the tune in the Jubilee Songs, “I will die in the field,” is made to fit the hymn, “When I can read my title clear.”
Sometimes the hymn is divided up, and the chorus sandwiched in between the lines most ingeniously. But, however incongruous it may be to the rules of music, it has a peculiar charm.
The church was well supplied during the vacation by Rev. David Peebles, of Dudley, N. C. Bro. Peebles kept them together and strengthened their hands. His ministry was most acceptable to the people. If nothing happens to us we have every reason to expect the church now to grow. We need the baptism of the Spirit. We are looking forward to a meeting, soon to be held in the city, under the direction of Rev. H. E. Brown, who has been laboring in the interest of the colored people in the South with great success. The Minister’s Union has taken hold of the matter, and stands ready to give him a hearty co-operation. Bro. Brown’s method introduces Bible Readings in public, and from house to house. This is what we need, and what the people want. We hope for a large blessing to follow.
There is a large territory spiritually to be occupied in Charleston. We have a population of 50,000, a large part of whom are colored. In this county there are 71,000 colored people and only 30,000 white. There are 604,000 colored people in the State, and 391,000 white. The colored vote is 40,000 in majority. There is great wickedness among these colored people. They copy and improve upon the vices of the whites, in addition to their natural depravity. Gambling, profanity, drunkenness, licentiousness and Sabbath-breaking abound. Some of these vices have been born of freedom, others have been increased by it. Drunkenness was rare among the blacks in slavery. Gambling was comparatively unknown. Now both of these vices prevail to an alarming extent. Outside the city limits on Sunday groups of men and boys are to be seen everywhere, throwing dice or engaged in some other form of gambling. An effort is on foot to reach these outlying masses and bring them under the influence of the Gospel. I know of but one missionary who gives her time to the work of visiting the thirty thousand colored people of this city. We could use advantageously a dozen.
Oh, how much there is to be done, and how few to do it; and how weak all our instrumentalities in the face of these obstacles! May God help us! Oh, that the churches at the North could see what a field is open to them here in the South! If we could have at least one more missionary here in Charleston we would be glad, and the money it would cost would be well expended.
The white people are waking up to more effort in missionary work. They have commenced in the temperance reform, and already a petition with 5,000 names attached has been presented to the Mayor and Council, asking that no more licenses be granted for the sale of intoxicating drinks. It is a beginning. A noble Christian woman, Mrs. Chapin, has been the prime mover of this endeavor. We hope its influence will not be lost if the petition is rejected. May God give us other and stronger petitions until the authorities see that Christian people mean business.